


The Reckoning Comes After the World Ends

by jebbypal



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-07
Updated: 2006-12-07
Packaged: 2017-10-07 18:12:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jebbypal/pseuds/jebbypal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There have been many times that Dean's world has almost ended. Spoilers for Croatoan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Reckoning Comes After the World Ends

Once, when he was four, Dean thought his world had ended when his mother and his home exploded in flames.

When he was ten, it seemed like the end of the world when he found out that his father wasn't perfect and couldn't always save the day. Three days later, he attended the funeral of the best friend he'd ever known.

After that, his world shrunk. It was safer if it consisted of only those that could protect themselves and that were tied to him: Sam and Dad were all he needed. Pastor Jim and Bobby were satellites of that small planet and he enjoyed seeing them in his night sky on occasion. Still, he saw stars fall all the time. He knew it was only a matter of time before he lost them as well.

But Sam and Dad were his life and always there. Right up until the 9.5 earthquake that shattered everything he held dear and threw his little brother across the continent by himself.

He knows he could have followed. But he also knew that Sam could make it on his own. If he left Dad, it was only a matter of time before Dean would be putting up a headstone next to Mom's. The only uncertainty was whether or not there'd be a body to put in the ground next to it.

So he said goodbye to his little brother and stayed on the road with his Dad. Except more and more, they didn't hunt together. No matter what he did, his world was getting smaller. At this rate, Dean wasn't sure how much longer the sand of the island he was standing on would last before the ocean of time pulled it off into the dark black abyss.

When Dad went missing (abandoned him), all Dean could think of was getting to Sam. Getting Sam to help him. Having someone he trusted and loved to help hold his head above the rising waters.

It worked. And there was a short period of time in which all three Winchester men were once again united in the hunt.

Right up until his Dad whispered those words in his ear, made him promise to take care of Sam, and then dropped dead in the hallway outside of Dean's hospital room.

Just like that, there was no solid ground left to stand on and an extinction event hit the world of Dean Winchester for what he thought was surely the last time.

But Sam was still there.

Seeing that thing on top of his little brother, pressing her sulfur spores into his little brother's blood, taking away Sammy, Dean Winchester truly knew the end of the world. He also knew that he wouldn't end it until there was absolutely none of his brother left. And then, when that was over and he slipped beneath the tide for the final time –

Well, then he planned to have a little talk with the man upstairs about exactly what the hell his family did to deserve a lifetime of pain and suffering.

He wasn't lying when he told Sammy that he was tired of this life. But he sure as hell wasn't tired enough to not get a little bit of reckoning when everything was over.


End file.
